


In a Dark, Dark Wood

by TheBadassIsIn



Series: Triple Dog Dare Verse [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Hale Family Feels, M/M, Mind fuckery, Sheriff Stilinski Knows, Stilinski Family Feels, canon adjacent, curse, mentions of alpha pack, mentions of twins, mixing up relationships due to, trigger warning : war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBadassIsIn/pseuds/TheBadassIsIn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Danny leaves a cryptic message for Jackson the pack goes hunting to save their friend and finds a strange house in the woods where they will not only have to battle the monster of the week, but their pasts and maybe even each other. <br/>Prompt fill for Demitria Miriam. Prompt will be posted at the end of the work as it contains many spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teaser

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, a sneak peak at the next portion of this series. The multi chapter work to come was prompted by Demitria Miriam, the prompt itself will not be posted until the end of the work because it contains some juicy spoilers ;D
> 
> Enjoy the teaser, the starting chapter will be posted Tuesday, October 15th. Thanks for reading! Wish me luck on my first time camping adventures! In the woods. With no internet or phone service. Near Halloween. And after reading lots of horror tw and spn fics and watching scary movies... maybe this wasn't such a great vacation plan 0.0

Danny stumbled down the dirt road, hand holding tighter to the one clasped in his.  He’d only had two beers, his balance shouldn’t be this bad. The thought sent a jolt through him. He didn't know this guy, just that his ID was better or maybe real and he was more than happy to buy the drinks. 

Was there something in them?

Danny wasn't this stupid. He looked away from the sweet smile and blue eyes that caught his attention in the first place to take in his new surroundings. He had to swallow a couple times before speaking, his tongue dry and clumsy from the beer, the long walk and sudden spike of fear as he wondered how they got all the way from Jungle to so deep in the woods. "Where are we?"

There was that smile again, so shy and small and crocked like he was biting the inside of one cheek. No one could smile like that and be bad, right? "You said we should find someplace to be alone. We're alone." Danny didn't remember saying that. He wasn’t typically the first move kind of guy. He could see the shadow of a big house not too far away and that bad feeling was settling back in, making him stumble and stop. "Hey? You okay?" The man was asking, grabbing Danny's hips to steady him and no, this wasn’t right. Danny didn't even know this guy’s name, he never did this. What was going on? Besides him starting to panic because that was definitely happening now.

But then lips were on his and a tongue was sliding into his mouth and this tingle was numbing his senses again, even the dull ache in his bum shoulder was disappearing and, oh yeah. He did want this. They reached the front door and Danny was crowded against it, something itching the back of his mind and begging for attention. "Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"I just... do you mind if I make a call?"

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

Danny feels himself swallowing again, almost wants to shut down this whole situation before he looks into those big blue eyes and nearly forgets why he has his phone in his hand. "Safety thing. I always call my roommate when I'm out late so he knows not to worry." Danny lies. He doesn’t know why. He wants this, he wants the man in front of him but something is digging at him as he leaves the message. Maybe it's just the woods and the animal attacks. He hangs up and smiles. "You never told me your name."

"Julian." The man smiles back, pushing Danny backwards through the creaking door before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards a dusty stair case, pausing every few steps for sweet kisses.

"Where are you taking me, Julian?" He asks as the reach the third balcony and continue to another set, out of breath from climbing, kissing and the promise of more to come.

"The highest room in the tallest tower of course."

Danny laughs, trying to catch up as Julian runs a few steps ahead. "What am I, a prince?" The guy was fit. Danny wasn't exactly a long distance runner, but most of the time he could keep his own. The burning feeling in his lungs was making his mind start to over think again, having him reach in his pocket to double check his phone was still there. He reaches the top and Julian grabs his hand, prying away the phone and tossing it over the railing as Danny watches with confused horror as the phone falls down and down into darkness before he hears the smash echo through the house.

"Only if I get to be the witch in disguise."


	2. In a Dark, Dark Wood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NotreallyAuthor’s Note : Hello weird world of fan fiction! George here hacking BA’s account. She says hi by the way and apologizes for the delay but she really shouldn’t because she is half dead.  
> Yeah… camping. Not so great. We hit a storm on the way back and got in a bad car accident. I’m okay because I’m the wonder twin, obviously, but she is pretty bad and not in a badass way like she thinks. If y’all could send her some love I’m sure it would make her day and break my fingers typing up all her responses. We’ll be responding to all comments asap so hang in there fangirls and guys and enjoy this new chapter!  
> Long story short, BA was out for 10 days, had surgeries for internal bleeding and just got out of the hospital a few hours ago. All she’s complaining about though is that both her hands are broken and she misses you and feels bad for not writing. So yeah, I’ll be posting her stories to you for a while. Because I’m the best brother in the world… and fully plan on posting embarrassing things about her in the notes as payback for de-tumblr-virgining me.  
> Any questions? visit us on thebadassisin.tumblr.com/ask  
> Cool. On with the show. There’s a recap of last time at the beginning for those who can’t remember as it’s been a while and BA insisted an edit and repost. Guess I’m her beta now. Other than that, enjoy the new material and please write to tell us what you think. Your love is like the pain meds she desperately needs and won’t take. Give her loving!!!  
> George – out. Or maybe I should be WT for wonder twin? :)

Danny stumbled down the dirt road, hand holding tighter to the one clasped in his.  He’d only had two beers, his balance shouldn’t be this bad. The thought sent a jolt through him. He didn't know this guy, just that his ID was better or maybe real and he was more than happy to buy the drinks. 

Was there something in them?

Danny wasn't this stupid, he knew better.

 He looked away from the sweet smile and blue eyes that caught his attention in the first place to take in his new surroundings. He had to swallow a couple times before speaking, his tongue dry and clumsy from the beer, the long walk and sudden spike of fear as he wondered how they got all the way from Jungle to so deep in the woods. "Where are we?"

There was that smile again, so shy and small and crooked like he was biting the inside of one cheek. No one could smile like that and be bad, right? "You said we should find someplace to be alone. We're alone." Danny didn't remember saying that. He wasn’t typically the first move kind of guy. He could see the shadow of a big house not too far away and that bad feeling was settling back in, making him stumble and stop. "Hey? You okay?" The man was asking, grabbing Danny's hips to steady him, and no, this wasn’t right. Danny didn't even know this guy’s name, he never did this. What was going on? Besides him starting to panic because that was definitely happening now.

But then lips were on his and a tongue was sliding into his mouth and this tingle was numbing his senses again, even the dull ache in his bum shoulder was disappearing and, oh yeah. He did want this. They reached the front door and Danny was crowded against it, something itching the back of his mind and begging for attention. "Wait." He manages to breathe out, taking a deep breath and bringing some much needed oxygen to his brain. He needed to listen to that itch.

"What's wrong?"

"I just... do you mind if I make a call?"

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

Danny felt himself swallowing again. He almost wants to shut down this whole situation before he looks into those big blue eyes and nearly forgets why he has the phone in his hand. "Safety thing. I always call my roommate when I'm out late so he knows not to worry." Danny lies. He doesn’t know why. He wants this, he wants the man in front of him but something is digging at him as he leaves the message. Maybe it's just the woods and the animal attacks. He hangs up and smiles. "You never told me your name."

"Julian." The man smiles back, pushing Danny backwards through the creaking door before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards a dusty stair case, pausing every few steps for sweet kisses.

"Where are you taking me, Julian?" He asks as they reach the third balcony and continue to another set, out of breath from climbing, kissing and the promise of more to come.

"The highest room in the tallest tower of course."

Danny laughs, trying to catch up as Julian runs a few steps ahead. "What am I, a prince?" The guy was fit. Danny wasn't exactly a long distance runner, but most of the time he could keep his own. The burning feeling in his lungs was making his mind start to over think again, having him reach in his pocket to double check his phone was still there. He reaches the top and Julian grabs his hand, prying away the phone and tossing it over the railing. Danny watches it fall with confused horror, down and down into darkness before he hears the smash echo through the house.

"Only if I get to be the witch in disguise."

* * *

"I'm telling you Derek, listen to this." Jackson pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons before Danny's voice is laughing at something through the speakers.

"Hey Jackson. I'm going to be home late, had way too much to drink at Jungle and I don't even know his name but…" they could hear the sound of someone fiddling with a door knob and fabric rustling. "I'll see you in the morning. If not, don’t come sniffing us out in the woods okay?" The call ended and Jackson looked up, obviously worried.

"Jackson-" Derek starts because this didn’t seem like a crisis to him. The beta could go to Scott and bond about the trauma of their best friends having sex for all he cared, but  _he_  didn’t want to hear about it.

 

"No! Danny doesn’t do that. He doesn't call when he's going home with someone, he's all shy and he knows I don’t want to hear the details. He goes to Jungle for  _dancing_ , not hook ups. He doesn’t get drunk. He doesn’t tell me when he's not coming home because I'm not his dad, how would I know anyway unless we had plans which we didn't. Why can’t you see how bad this is?"

"You meet people, things happen. I'm honestly more worried about him telling you not to 'sniff him out'. Does he know?" Jackson's face went from frustrated to furious and the beta clenched his teeth through a solid minute of staring down his alpha.

"I don't know." Jackson ground out. "He's smart but I didn’t tell him if that's what you mean."

"Good."

"Not good. We need to go look for him. I went to Jungle and found their scent but I keep losing it in with all the other people. I... I need your help." Derek stopped to think. His beta was riled up, obviously nervous about his friend going off with a random stranger but Danny was a teenager. School started in a couple weeks. Isn’t this what human teenagers do? "If it was Stiles you would have already left."

"That's different. I'd know the second something-"

"No. Not your mate Stiles, Scott's best friend. If Scott came to you for help you'd do it."

And speak of the devil. Stiles shuffled through the hole Derek still really needed to patch and yawned, pulling a pair of Derek’s sweatpants up a little higher before staring them both down. "Why is there yelling and why is it about me?"

"It’s not about you." Jackson bites out, playing the message again, this time on speaker so Stiles can hear.

"Did you start tracking him at Jungle?"

"There were too many different scents."

"He mentioned the woods, we'll start at the closest tree line to the clubs." His mate threw the phone to Jackson and went back to the bedroom to change.

"You think he's actually in trouble?" Derek called into him, feeling the anxiety and determination leak through the bond.

"That’s not like Danny. And he's smart - if he was in trouble he'd call to make sure someone knew. He left two locations to check and probably turned on the gps in his phone. Jackson?"

"He won’t answer. It doesn’t even ring, just straight to voicemail like it's been turned off."

"That sucks. We'll have to call in everyone, get all the wolf noses at work." Derek watched his mate take charge, sending a text out to the pack to get them all to meet at Jungle while Jackson went out to the car to get the shirt from his trunk he'd been using to try and track Danny.

When the beta came back in, handing over the shirt and looking pale, Derek couldn’t help feeling guilty about not taking him seriously from the start.

"Don't give me that look." Jackson said to the floor, anger evident in the glow of his eyes but still clear headed enough not to give his alpha a direct order. "You can be sorry if he's hurt. Just help me get him back."

* * *

Stiles watched his friends gather outside the club and follow the patchy scent to the tree line where they all spread out and entered the woods.  It wasn't long before the right scent was found and the humans were doing their best to run after the wolves. Allison took off through the trees, picking her way gracefully like the lady Legolas she was while Stiles and Lydia held on to each other and just did their best.

Stiles had gotten used to the stumbling run through the trees but he wasn't going to leave Lydia behind in her... well at least they weren’t heels but those boots definitely weren't of the hiking variety either.  She just squeezed his hand tighter and picked up the pace when Allison moved far enough ahead that they could barely see her, determined not to be the weak link and holding back the tears valiantly even as she sniffled. When they had set off from the club, everyone had this steely expression on like they were going to war, except Lydia who looked how Jackson must feel. He knew she was friends with Danny, but he didn't know they were close enough to have Lydia showing an unplanned emotion. Maybe it was a putting up with Jackson full-time bond. He didn't get to think on it much further before they were coming to a stop behind the pack.

The wolves were lined up, making an arch along the edge of a black circle that was surrounding a massive house. Derek broke away and jogged around it, looping back to them with a furrow to his brow and looking like the mountain ash was rocket science. They had humans, it wouldn’t be that hard to break and get to the house. Allison seemed to think the same thing as she knelt down to wipe out the circle.

“Wait.” Lydia called, stopping Allison’s hands where they hovered over the magic border. “What if it’s there to keep something in? Can anyone hear Danny, is something in there with him?”

“There’s nothing. No scent. No Danny, no stranger. No trees or rotting house or animals. Nothing.” Derek said, looking more confused and frustrated by the second. The alpha raised his hand for silence and one by one the pack seemed to hone in on a sound. Stiles focused in on the mate bond, trying to get any information he could while keeping quiet as they took in their surroundings. They had learned their safety lessons with the omega attack. He knew Derek wasn’t going to let them walk into anything blind. “Two heart beats.”

“Maybe it’s the type of mountain ash? Or something mixed into it?” Stiles guessed, still trying to decipher the mix of emotions swirling through Derek, some making no sense at all. Derek turned back to Allison and nodded. She swiped the spot in the circle she was still hovering over, the rest fading away in a domino effect. Jackson darted forward but Derek stopped him, reaching out a fast hand to tug him back by the waist band of his pants.

“Wait.” The alpha said softly, freezing on the spot as he scented the air again. Stiles watched the color leave his face and was there before Derek could blink back the first tear where he was still stuck in place staring a hole through the house and breathing heavily.

“Derek?”

“What the hell was that?” The alpha whispered, bringing his eyes back to Stiles, his color coming back and breathing slowing down but he wasn’t looking at all calm. He tugged Jackson behind him and moved closer to the house, pacing side to side for a minute before turning to face them. “Pair up.”

“We’re splitting up?” Scott asked, stepping forward between Stiles and Allison.

“I’m not going in there.” Lydia says. “Something’s not right.”

“I know.” Derek answered her. “Scott, you’re outside with Stiles and Lydia-” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You are not bubble wrapping me. I know I got hurt but that doesn’t mean you can bench me on everything. Danny’s my friend too and I’m going in.”

“I need a team out here in case something goes wrong. You and Lydia work well together and she’s not going in. Do you want to leave her alone?” Stiles stared him down, they were so going to talk about this later, but Derek had a point and if he and Lydia on the outside made it easier for the wolves to rush in and get Danny asap, then he’d stay out. But just this once. Something was still circling through Derek and into the bond that Stiles didn’t understand and he knew the alpha was trying to hide.

“We talk about what just happened later. Go get Danny. Be safe.” They squeezed hands goodbye and Stiles forced himself to step back.

“Alright. Jac- Jackson wait!” Derek roared as the beta made a break for the house. “Allison.”

“You need a human to break anymore mountain ash lines. I’m armed and trained, I’m going.”

Derek nodded once.  “With me, we’ll go for the first heartbeat upstairs. Erica, Boyd, Isaac. Stay together, find Jackson and go for the second heartbeat. It sounds like it’s underground, look for a basement or something. Howl if you run into anyone or anything. Do _not_ try to fight it on your own.” The betas broke into the house, Allison hovering in the doorway while Derek turned back to Scott. “Do not leave them under any circumstances. If anything approaches, howl.” Scott nodded and then the alpha was gone.

* * *

Derek tried to scent the circle but there was nothing. Nothing except for the hint of an impossible something tickling his nose and teasing his mind. When Allison broke the circle, he barely had the time to tell Jackson to wait before the scent hit him fully.

It wasn’t possible. He saw her body. There was practically nothing left. He and Laura had woken to each other screaming for months.

But there it was, so strong he felt he should be rolling over and submitting to its power.

“Derek?” The alpha was pulled out of his reverie by Stiles’ voice, lungs burning and eyes wet.

“What the hell was that?” He asked his mate, because he didn’t know. Couldn’t know. Nothing should ever smell like that again. It was wrong and so right at the same time.

Like home.

But Derek’s home didn’t exist anymore. Not that home at least. He was just starting to make a new one, how could it come back to haunt him now? Wasn’t the guilt enough? But what if it was somehow real? What if Peter knew all along, knew how to do what he did from seeing someone else try it. Derek snapped himself out of his thoughts and pulled Jackson behind him. He needed to organize the pack, get them in and out safely.

Jackson broke away and went in alone, every fiber of him waited to chase after the beta but he had to protect his mate and the rest of the pack too. Jackson disobeyed. They would find him, Derek would hear if there was any trouble. Right now Jackson was just running over hard wood. He split them up, gave his mate one last look and assessed Lydia’s fear, he wasn’t going to ever ignore a feeling from Lydia again. Hopefully keeping Stiles outside with her and Scott as his watcher and protector was the right move. He’s certain Lydia would have told him otherwise. 

“It’s too dark to see, you’re going to have to lead.” Allison whispered, grabbing a hold of his shirt sleeve. “I’ll be fine once we get further up the stairs, it looks like there’s some light up there.” He pulled her up on the next few steps, about to ask where she saw light when he heard Isaac say something on the floor above them. He was supposed to stay with Erica and Boyd. He heard the betas not far from Jackson on the other side of the house, what was Isaac doing alone? He took a breath to call out to him but that scent stuck in his throat and all of a sudden a heavy cloud was wrapping around his thoughts. He felt himself sway on the stairs and Allison tugging on his shirt. “Derek, what’s happening?”

Derek struggled to remember why he was there, who he was, what was happening. He felt something reach into his mind and pull pieces away. Watched his wolf snarl and pounce on the hands tugging memories loose. What was happening? His world faded away, his body crumpling down to the floor without the focus to hold itself up. He watched the same happen to the girl next to him. Hunter, human, pack. Allison. Everything was slipping away and flowing back on waves getting too heavy to blink against until a cool hand touched his face. He looked up into eyes glowing red in the dark, set in a face his heart burst to see. He was okay, he was safe.

“Mom.”

* * *

Stiles paces the yard between the house and where Scott and Lydia are sitting against trees. It had been an hour. An entire hour and they hadn’t heard what sounded like fighting or howling and there were definitely no werewolves leaving the house with a rescued Danny or tied up bad guy in tow. “Hey, you’re psychic. Can you try to like see inside the house and tell us what’s going on or something?” He asked Lydia. She didn’t even look at him.

“I’m not psychic.”

“Maybe read Jackson’s mind to see if he found Danny yet.”

“Not psychic.”

“Predict what time we’ll get out of here.”

“Stiles! I’m not-”

“Well you’re something!” He snapped. He shouldn’t have, it wasn’t Lydia’s fault. Even asking her stupid questions was supposed to be a joke, a distraction, but he was too anxious for any of that to work. “Hey, I’m…” A creaking noise gets his attention and he looks back to the house, half expecting the villain to be on the roof ready to pounce on him. That was his luck lately. What he doesn’t expect to see is a whole other section popping up out of the roof. He backed up to where Lydia and Scott were staring at the growing house too. “What the fuck is that? Did you see that? Tell me you saw that!”

“Yeah.” Was all Lydia said as they watched the house grow and expand with the shadow of a person walking past the new windows and through the new sections.

They all sat back down against the tree trunks and watched the house twist and grow with the people moving through it. They could see most of the pack through the windows, at least Stiles knew they were okay, but what were they doing? And why had some of them separated against Derek’s orders? Stiles tried not to panic without thinking things through, he just needed to breathe, to focus, maybe have Scott try and use his wolf ears like walkie talkies and get an update from the pack. He took a slow deep breath that stopped his heart and fueled the panic further. “Lydia.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Perfume. Did a bottle in your purse break?” Stiles doubted it. This was expensive perfume, not that Lydia couldn’t afford it, but it was something his dad had ordered through the mail from like Europe or somewhere twice a year for Christmas and their anniversary. It wasn’t something Lydia was likely to find walking through Macy’s and definitely not the cheap stuff she was stocking up on to use as scent bombs. And besides that, there was this special extra ingredient clinging to it. Like library books and freshly baked cookies. It all came together to make Stiles’ lungs pick up double time and tears prick at his eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Scott asked. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Stiles?” Lydia asked, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling his mind back. He looked up at the house and swore he saw her for just a second, in the window by the newest room. It looked like a kitchen, like his kitchen. “Stiles, look at me!” Lydia yelled next to him. He tore his eyes away from the heartbreaking, impossible thing he needed to see again. “I smell it too.” That was all he needed to get to his feet and head to the house. “Stiles wait! Derek said not to go inside.”

“It’s like you don’t even know me.” He scoffed, since when was Stiles Stilinski known to do exactly as told?

“It has to be a trap.” Lydia yelled, trying to pull him away from the house that was still creaking and groaning as it grew more rooms.

That made a lot of sense actually. Some magic voodoo bullshit coming to throw a wrench in his life, but what if it wasn’t? What if this was some weird wormhole, Bermuda triangle, Doctor Who type chance to see her? Just one more time. Just for a minute. Or maybe forever. He had to take the chance. Scott stepped in front of him too, he knew his best friend could block him easily, but he also knew his weak points. "Scott." he said, throwing a teary look he didn't have to try too hard to pull off right now into the mix. He could see his friend's resolve to follow orders crumble and stepped around him, ignoring Lydia's pleas to wait.

Stiles could hear Scott follow him into the house and stay glued to his side as he tried to maneuver through the oddly formed rooms and find the one she was in, the one he could see from outside. It didn't take long before the light green walls and bright white cabinets of his childhood greeted him but then the trap must have sprung because he didn't even get a chance to look around before Scott slammed into his back and it all went to shit.

* * *

Lydia couldn’t do it. She tried, she pulled him back as hard as she could but the little geek was strong. And she just couldn’t go inside. Something was pulling on her too, pulling away from the door. She watched Scott and Stiles run in and the door swing closed behind them. She did her best to run along the side of the house with them, track them through the windows until she got to a side door and the boys disappeared down a hallway. She had to do it, had to suck it up and go inside. Something was really wrong here and she had to be brave. Lydia tugged at the door with all her weight until the knob finally gave and she got in.

She didn’t want to look at the house, didn’t want to think about being inside of it or the noises the old wood was making, she just ran to where she had seen Scott and Stiles turn down a corner and fell to her hands and knees as she tripped over them.

Stiles was sprawled across a doorway, hand reaching out to something. He was definitely breathing and mumbling but Lydia couldn’t make sense of it. She picked herself up off Scott and checked him too. He was breathing and smiling that dopey grin. Neither one seemed to have been hurt, they almost looked like they had just fallen asleep.

“What is going on?” Lydia asked no one. What if the whole pack was like this somewhere in the house? What was she supposed to do? First things first, she pulled the neck of her shirt over her mouth. It was probably magic not gas and even if it was, thin cotton wouldn’t do much but it was better to try this than nothing.

She quietly stood and listened. A floor board creaked above her but it was hard to tell if it was from someone moving around or the house doing its magic. “Derek.” She whispered and stayed perfectly still and quiet for a moment. “Derek.” She called a little louder. No matter how big the house was, he should have been able to hear that. If the whole pack was unconscious, what was she going to do?

She didn’t have to think on that much longer as she heard laughter from the floor above. “Isaac?” She called. He didn’t answer. “Isaac!”  There was murmuring above her like a muffled conversation, but nothing that sounded like a reply or like the beta was on his way. She had to make a choice. Leave Scott and Stiles defenseless to look for what might be Isaac or could be a trap, or stay here and call out to people that might not hear, potentially attracting the bad guy. She quickly looked around the room and spotted another door, hoping it was to the outside, she opened it, but it was just to an empty closet. It would have to do. She dragged Stiles and Scott over, keeping an ear on the barely audible conversation Isaac was having upstairs and trying not to think the word ‘bodies’ as she moved them to the closet and shut them in. At least they were hidden, and she was going to be as fast as she could.

Lydia left the room and walked as quickly and quietly through the maze the house was building as she could. When she finally got to a stair case she went up and was surprised it led exactly where she wanted to be. Isaac was sitting on a moldy old couch and talking. He was smiling wider than she’d ever seen, gesturing with his hands and snapping his head back and forth between the wall across from him and to seat next to him... but there was no one there.

“Isaac, where is everyone?”

“No man, you don’t understand. You have the medal and the uniform working for you, you don’t even have to try. Me, I’m a grave digger. That’s attractive.”

“Isaac! Listen to me!”

“Comic books are not that in. Maybe I’ll stand a chance in college but – lacrosse! Are you kidding me? I can’t play lacrosse – I’ll die!”

Getting more frustrated and scared by the second, Lydia stomped over and shoved him in the chest. “Isaac! Quit messing around, where are Boyd and Erica? Where’s Jackson?”

“Hey, no using your soldier strength! It’s not funny.”

“Isaac please!”

“I know Cam. It’s not your fault.” Isaac looked at her with a sad little crocked smile before giving her a quick hug and pat on the back. “It’s okay.” Lydia wanted to cry. There was no logical explanation for any of this. No plan of attack without figuring out why Isaac couldn’t see what he was touching or why Scott and Stiles were currently passed out in a closet. She was alone, she was smart, she could work this out and it would be fine. Like Isaac had just said, it’s okay. She opened her eyes as Isaac pulled away and saw her arms. Well, arm. Her burned and bloodied arm with dirt caked under her finger nails and the other one was gone, just gone. She screamed and shot up off the couch. “Alright, fine, that hug was long enough I get it. Now come on, give me some actual advice. I don’t want to end freshman year as a nobody.”

She brought both hands up in front of her but they were fine. Her hands were shaking, but they were the same sun kissed, perfectly manicured set she’d walked in with. No blood or dirt, only a little dust from the banister she used to pull herself up the rotting stairs earlier. It was a hallucinogenic. Isaac thought he was talking to his brother and was completely locked on, maybe whatever magic was behind it had him believing that was real and she wasn’t. Whatever it was, she was breathing it in now too, why else would she see her hands like that? Like she had been caught in an explosion or something. She had to focus. She had to find someone else, someone who was still thinking clearly. Maybe she could try to wake Stiles and Scott again. But then she would have to leave Isaac.

She tugged on Isaac’s shirt, tried to get him off the couch but it turned into a wrestling match Isaac was laughing through and somehow lost, curled in a ball and struggling to breathe through the laughter in some weird juxtaposition of a when he would curl in on himself those rare times she saw him give into panic. Now their sides were switched, he looked like sunbeams and rainbows were shooting out of the walls and she was the one falling apart.

Lydia headed back down the stairs and attempted to work her way through the maze and back to the closet Stiles and Scott were hopefully both still safe in.

Somehow, between one hall and the next she was certain would lead back to the room she’d left them, Lydia got turned around. 

That pulling she felt keeping her from following Stiles into the house was with her again, messing with her sense of direction and leading her against her will back to the front door. Not leading, chasing, eating her heels and gaining power and speed. By the time she flung herself outside she was ready to scream.

And then it all stopped. She backed up from the door and it’s silent aside from the eerie wind through the leaves at her feet and the creaking of the house in front of her.

She throws herself back at the door, attacking the lock, the knob and the old wood as if it were her fear personified but it wouldn’t budge.

She needed to get everyone out, get them help, but it was becoming more and more obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to do this on her own. She backed away from the house as far as she dared, still keeping the house visible so she wouldn't get lost in case the woods around it were mazelike too. Lydia opened up the pack circle on her phone and sent out a mass text

**Emergency. Call me NOW**

Judging by the state of Isaac, she didn’t think it would do any good but she had to try. Then, she pressed the only other name she knew well enough to trust.

“Sheriff, I’m sorry but I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited 21 January 2014  
> Please bring any mistakes we missed to the comment box or thebadassisin.tumblr.com/ask  
> Thank you - WT


	3. There Was a Dark, Dark House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nottheautor’s note: BA said to say that she doesn’t know if this story got better or weirder because she wrote most of it high on pain meds. She also said to say that she does not condone being high while writing or being high in general tsk tsk. [She’s boring sometimes] ;)  
> Sorry about the updates taking so long, we are doing our best to keep y’all entertained while we heal. Comments, questions, love and concern are all greatly appreciated. For updates on BA’s condition, facts about her fanfiction, and other cool and more interesting stuff : Follow us on tumblr! thebadassisin.tumblr.com  
> Without further ado – In a Dark, Dark Wood (There Was a Dark, Dark House)

Allison wakes to the furnace of her werewolf next to her and does her best to repress a shudder and play it off as stretching into the cool morning air. She hates waking up with his mouth so close to her throat as he scents her. The kisses he tickles her with are innocent enough, but she’s seen his teeth, she knows what he can do and though she has seen him as nothing but a good man so far, she has heard the stories of her family and the monsters they’ve hunted. It was only a matter of time before something broke him.

“Mmmorning.” Allison mumbled, stretching an arm over his chest and playing with the ticklish spot by his ribs. She felt off, like she didn’t belong here even though this was sort of the routine her mission had taken on. She hoped it was just a lingering feeling from her bad dream and not her survival instincts tingling at maybe being caught. He cages her in, leaning over her to give a good morning kiss, her purse and more importantly its deadly contents were close by if needed. She much rather have his mouth occupied with hers than at her throat as it had been when she woke, but she would still be more comfortable shutting this down before it got too far with her in such a vulnerable position. Lucky for her, she had the excuse of him acting strangely. “Hey, hey you’re shaking. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He sighed, but it got him to stop and rest their foreheads together. She could feel his brow scrunch against hers and took the opportunity to roll them on their side, freeing her movement and pushing her body closer to the purse on the floor while looking like she just wanted to slow down and hear about his feelings. “It was just a bad dream, it’s nothing.”

He leans in to kiss her again and she pushes back, further. “Since when does Derek Hale have nightmares?” Derek rolls his eyes at her and gives a playful grin, stalking forward again but she can tell his mask is up and it makes her feel like prey. “Why don’t you tell me what it was about?” Derek gives her a look that pangs something inside her, like he’s just a scared little kid, and it makes her feel all the more guilty about the mission. “It was about me wasn’t it?”

“No, Allison, not you...”

“But my family?” Derek looked up guiltily at her. She was never going to figure out where his ‘ _it’s all my fault_ ’ attitude came from. It was probably just being the troublesome youngest male in a large and rich wolf pack. Not that she could really judge, being the only child of the Argent empire, but it was a little ridiculous. And their plan was going to ruin him. It was kind of the point, if a little cruel. They couldn’t take the Hale alphas down from the inside or manipulate them like they could a young, impressionable beta. And they couldn’t get justice for her parents’ death if they didn’t know which Hale was responsible. Kate wanted to kill them all. Allison would if they were all involved, but she wasn’t entirely sure it was the Hales and thought reconnaissance was in order.

“It was just a dream. It’s not like your family is planning to burn mine alive, is it?” Derek gave her a sarcastic smirk. It was a little eerie how close he was to the truth. But it’s not like that was actually the plan. There were tests in place, information to be found, and yes – they were going to rip the one who murdered her parents to shreds and burn the pieces of all those who knew and kept the secret, but it’s not like they were going to suffer the children and the innocent. As angry as she was, there was a code her father instilled in her. As much as she wanted to kill every werewolf on the planet for literally ripping her family apart, she was smart enough to recognize her father’s wisdom and know that justice was better than vengeance for vengeance’s sake. She was also smart enough not to answer.

“We’re not monsters, Derek. Are you okay?”

“I’d be better if we could finish what we started.” He smiled at her again, so easy to trust whatever it was he saw in her instead of Kate when he picked her over her aunt at the start of the mission. He started up another kiss that had her pausing in its intensity to push him back again. There was definitely something to be said for college men versus high school boys. Werewolves, she mentally corrected. He wasn’t human. This was never the plan, he was supposed to go for Kate’s flirting.

“Derek.” She paused to bite her lip, hoping she looked tempted enough to continue. There was only so many times you could push someone away before they questioned it. “You know how I feel about doing this at your house. Your whole family can hear us.”

“Yes. So they know to respect our space, unlike your aunt.”

“It was one time. She was curious, and I think she said something about wanting to lick your abs…” She veered off teasingly.

“I’m not her biggest fan.”

“And she’s not yours. You can’t blame her for being a little over protective of me.” She gave him a couple quick pecks before sliding out of bed to get dressed.

Allison could hear Derek leave the bed to get dressed too, and tried keeping her back to him in a sign of trust while watching in reflections of windows and out the corner of her eye. That dream had her on edge, his dream and hers. She had dreamt of a fire too, one Kate started that led to her death. Her throat ripped out before Allison’s eyes and Allison unable to do anything to stop it just like the damsel she was before her parents’ were killed. She wondered if Derek had dreamt the same thing and what that meant. Or if maybe he was on to Kate’s plan and trying to catch her in a lie. She was going to have to be careful the next few days.

Derek appeared in front of her, eyebrows scrunched again as his nostrils flared but eyes still that calm blue green, she couldn’t panic. “Derek? What’s wrong?”

“Why do you smell like another pack? Are you hunting again…you didn’t tell me-”

“What do you mean? I’ve been with your pack, that’s it. There was an Omega last week, but I had nothing to do with it.” She knew her heart beat backed her up, she had no idea what other pack he was talking about. If she had been marked or followed, they were going to have a big problem.

“You smell like…they smell like… mine. But…”

“Like your pack?”

“Yes, but not ….us, not my family.”

“Derek…” Something was wrong, she had no idea what. The first thing coming to mind was that Talia went feral and starting turning outside her family, but the full moon wasn’t for another two and a half weeks and she had just spoken with a perfectly normal, calm Talia last night. Could her personality change that fast? And how would the new scents already be on Allison’s clothes?

“Something’s not right, I-”

“Derek?” He was starting to worry her, his hands were shaking. Any second she was expecting glowing eyes, fangs and a fight. This wasn’t like him. This was the horror stories Kate whispered in her ear. She had really starting to think Derek was better than that. She should have known the first time his eyes flashed blue and not the safer gold she had been expecting. Allison _had_ to fall for the little Shakespearean teenage tragedy he fed her – well, she wasn’t going to be next. “Derek you’re scaring-” She cut off with a gasp, taking a few steps back. When he looked up at her, his eyes were glowing red. What the hell happened while they were asleep? “Derek, your eyes!”

“I need you to leave. Now!” He turned his back on her and something shifted between his shoulders, like a mark or more like a tattoo she couldn’t really see, there just under the skin. What the hell was going on? The hunter in her wanted to stay, figure this out, fight against whatever this was, but the human girl still there inside had Allison throwing her purse on her shoulder and backing out of the room to run. She needed Kate, backup, someone. There was a curse at work.

* * *

Stiles groaned at the cramp in his leg when he woke. He refused to open his eyes, it was still dark. If he really wanted to, he could probably push himself up on the bed instead of leaning against it where he had probably fallen asleep playing video games with Scott again. But that would take effort. Just stretching and rolling over would be fine ‘til morning. He tried to push his feet forward, but something was blocking them. Stiles kicked out and someone huffed in pain.

“Fuck, what was that for?” Scott yelled at him, well that explained the heavy weight on his legs. “Dude, where the hell are we?”

“My room, your room. Who cares, get off me. Sleep time.”

“Stiles, we’re like in a closet.”

Stiles sighed. This was not the time for that conversation. Stiles was out, his mom was awesome. They were keeping  _this_  a secret because Scott wanted to because his dad was a prick. Not Stiles’ fault or choice, yet still – Scott complained. If you asked Stiles, Scott should just start with the whole werewolf thing. If  _Agent_  McCall could deal with that, he could deal with anything. “If you want to tell him, just tell him. You know I’m here for you man.”

“What? No, Stiles we’re actually in a fucking closet. Open your eyes.”

Stiles didn’t need to, the sound of a door swinging open and harsh light attacking his closed eyes was enough proof. “Uh… do I even want to know Sug?” His mom’s voice chimed in from the doorway. Something inside Stiles’ flooded with this feeling, like he was the happiest guy in the world, on the floor of his kitchen closet, tangled up in his best/boyfriends legs and in some serious pain, but it was like the happiest moment of his life and maybe he should lay off the underage drinking for a while. Tears were in his eyes, but he was going to blame the light shining right in his face.

“I don’t even want to know.” Stiles said honestly, shrugging and trying to maneuver his way up and out of the closet, getting tangled with Scott again and knocking over some boxes of pasta and canned peas as they fell back on top of each other. His mom’s laugh tinkled back into the kitchen as they got up and cleaned the mess. He could smell a trail of her perfume leading to where she was pulling something out of the oven. He thought she didn’t wear that perfume anymore. Not since dad…

“How long have you two been in there?”

Stiles tried to remember again but a pain shot through his head, instant head ache and regret. Yeah, no more alcohol. Ever. Or at least until the next back to school party. That’s probably what happened, he couldn’t even remember whose party it was. “Uh… whatcha making mom? Please say breakfast because I’m starving and I can hear Scott’s stomach growling from here.” Stiles turned to watch Scott scowling at some cans he was trying to balance back on their overloaded shelf. Maybe it wasn’t his stomach growling.

“Nice avoidance, but you’re out of luck kiddo. This is for the library bake sale and I’m late. You’re on your own!”

“Thanks. I’m feeling the love.”

“I do love you,” Stiles heart swelled again with that crazy emotion at her words. What was wrong with him today? “if you had come down earlier instead of trying to scare me from the closet like a couple of five year olds, you would have gotten something.”

“Love you too, mom.” He said around a thick throat.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine mom. Have fun at the library.”

“Oh, I will. See you later Scott.”

“See ya Mrs. S.” Scott closed the door behind him, they were both going to ignore the sounds of a couple cans falling. His mom rolled her eyes and left with the still steaming pie, leaving two drooling, one almost crying, teenagers in her wake. “So what do you want to do today? Go for a run? I heard Finstock’s going to make us do track and field for the off season. We could get a head start?”

“Yeah, you need it wheezing wonder. Getting yourself benched in Lacrosse is one thing, how are you going to fake asthma in track and field so your dad’s not suspicious?”

“Shut up, I can do it. I just need to start running more to practice.”

* * *

Maybe it was a bad idea to call Stiles’ father, keywords being  _Stiles’_ father. The man couldn’t concentrate on a thing coming out of her mouth for want to charge in and improvise a plan on his way to his son.

“Look, I know you want to go in guns blazing but … Are you even listening?” The Sheriff is back to staring at the door, eyes far away. The door oddly enough has opened with neither of them trying to touch it since Lydia was ushered out of the house a while ago by whatever eerie force field they were dealing with. Had one of the pack escaped unnoticed? Great, yet another thing to worry about. “Sheriff Stilinski-” She grabbed his arm to pull his attention back to her and could smell that perfume again, the one Stiles pointed out.

“I’m sorry, I thought… I saw…” The Sheriff’s words drifted off again as his attention went back to the house. Lydia followed the Sheriff's line of sight to see that the house had changed to look just like his, but younger, paint fresher, like when she would be forced to go to Stiles' birthday parties in grade school. And in the door is a woman, Lydia knew her.

"Oh my god." She let go of his arm and the house went back to the growing, rotting thing in the woods just as fast. No woman, no smell. What was that? Was it getting to her too now or was it just…She grabbed his elbow again as he started walking away and could see what he saw. "Okay. Sheriff, it’s a trap. She’s not really there, I promise. You have to listen to me.  _Please_." She can tell the Sheriff was trying to fight but kept getting confused.

“That’s the dress. The dress she made right before…” The Sheriff shakes his head, tears in his eyes while Lydia still tried to pull him further away. “She told me she wanted to look like an angel, always used to tell Stiles she was getting ready to be an angel.”

Lydia didn’t see her in a dress. She saw a stained johnny tied tight around a sickly thin woman she barely recognized with the skin around her usually plump cheeks so tight the bones threatened to cut right through as she smiled and called his name. And Lydia knew he was lost. There was a lot of power in a name, especially when it came from someone you loved. She couldn’t imagine that power after the tragedy of being separated for so long. No wonder she couldn’t stop Stiles. But that didn’t mean she was giving up. She pulled and fought him the whole way up to the door and through, stopping only when his weight started to get heavy against her. He barely dragged Lydia a few feet into the house before he was sprawled on the floor too, the door slamming shut behind them.

* * *

Derek breaks out of his room, he needs to find his mom, his alpha. Something didn’t feel right. Or smell right, the closer he got to the main room where he could hear his mother’s heartbeat, the more a smokey smell teased his nose.

Something like the pig roast they did last Christmas. It was, what? August? Shouldn’t that smell be out of their clothes by now?

“Hey, mom.” He called. Even just saying that sent a nervous energy racing through him, like he was excited to talk to his mother and hated forming the words in his mouth at the same time. The Alpha came around the corner with a smile in her eyes and that feeling doubled. He was so happy, for no reason at all… and he wanted to throw up. Was this what it felt like when humans got sick? “Where is everybody?”

“Laura and your father are trying to teach Cora to drive. Everyone else is… around.” She shrugged, looking more amused than worried. For a second Derek thought he saw ashes floating by his face on the breeze from the open window. He blinked and they were gone, replaced by a headache that didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. He shook it off and thought to the night before, thinks he remembers something about Cora being excited to get in the Camaro and his dad lecturing her about it being her first time on the road and they were taking the Jeep. The Toyota… they didn’t have a Jeep. A blue bucket of rust with a crocked steering wheel came to mind, but his mom was speaking again. “I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon.”

“Or the police. You think they’ll survive the crash and fiery blaze Cora gets them into?”

“Funny. Laura said the same about you once.”

“Yeah well she was right, wasn’t she?” Derek didn’t know why he said that. He had never been in a car accident in his life. He barely drove at all. Still, that smoke smell filled his nose and flames danced before his eyes.

“Derek?”

“Nothing. It’s just a headache.” He said, backing up, giving himself some air.

“Are you sure?”

“I had some weird dreams last night, it’s nothing. I wanted to talk to you about a smell. On Allison.”

“Hunters?” His mother asked, all business taking over her posture and her wolf pacing, ready to strike, behind her eyes. “I told you-”

“No, mom, wolves. She smelled of another pack and it… felt right. It felt like ours. Mine. I don’t know wh…” Derek trailed off, something catching his eye to the left. Two men, or teenagers, and that smell again. One of them was his pack and the other-

“Derek?  _Derek_.” His mother’s alpha voice cut off his train of thought. When he looked back, the window was gone, a wall in its place. There had never been a window there that he could remember.

“That doesn’t, I thought I saw. Who was that?”

“Derek there’s nothing there.”

“Have you made more pack?”

“No, Derek you know that. Not with a truce with the Argents so close. You know I want peace for this family. Come with me, we’re going to an emissary.”

“No. I need to go.”

“Derek. That’s an order.”

Derek ran, he’d never run from his mother before. Never thought he could even if he had a reason to. He had to find those teenagers. Had to find the scent that had emotion churning through him. Had to track them down, get answers. But every turn he took got him lost in his own house and that smoky smell, like someone was having a barbeque in the walls, was making him dizzy.

* * *

Lydia checked the Sheriff’s pulse and breathing, he was out just like Stiles and Scott but he seemed to be okay. Maybe she should have called Mr. Argent or Mrs. McCall. But with Chris she risked exposing a weak point for the werewolves, Derek especially, while they weren’t quite at a trusting stage yet. And Mrs. McCall, well she was all for strong, independent women, but Lydia didn’t think this was an injury she could heal and  _when_  she got all of her friends out of here, they might need medical attention and no paper work, not a nurse who succumbed to the same spell passed out at her feet like the Sheriff was right now. Stiles was going to kill her.

 

A slow clapping shook her from her thoughts. She snapped her head up to see a tall, thin man - handsome enough but not her type – dressed all in black. This was it. There were no flight options with her friends and the Sheriff all vulnerable and so close, she needed to fight. But that didn’t mean it had to be with fists. A full detail was in order, starting with categorizing the creature. “Bringing in the police Miss Martin, not the best choice. Though I’m guessing he’s not your typical Sheriff. A friend maybe?  _Pack_?” He spit the last word.

“Who are you?”

“Oh Lydia, does a name really matter? All you need to know is that I’m the druid who is going to kill all of your friends.”

Lydia scoffed, unimpressed. Deaton was a druid, technically, all emissaries were druids. They weren’t supposed to cause harm or get involved at all. Only heal and be advisors. This guy was either off the deep end or experimenting in things he didn’t fully understand. Still, he knew her name, and potentially everyone else’s and he flaunted it as if to show how much information he was keeping to his chest. Even if he was insane, he was smart, and that combination was deadly. “I’d ask why, but I’m going to assume you have a speciesist rant that I just don’t have time for.” He chuckled and shook his head at her but his blue eyes had an angry glint, he wasn’t amused. A temper could work in her favor if she played her cards right, or kill her frankly but she had already made up her mind to fight. Lydia would just have to make sure there was an ace up her sleeve before she acted on anything.

“No rant, not for you. It’s just a simple test. We’ll see if your friends are capable of keeping control in extreme situations. I don’t think they are.”

“You’re wrong.” Something sparked in his eyes at the challenge.

“No werewolves I’ve met have been able to so far. Have you figured out what’s going on inside this house yet?” Lydia didn’t have to play stupid for that one, she still had no idea, only that her immunity seemed to be helping her not fall victim again. At least so far.  “No? Well let me tell you. I’ve taken them back.” He paused for dramatic effect, god she almost wishes Stiles were here to banter with him so she could observe from the side lines and not have to worry about keeping her face in check. “Back to an important moment in their life and I’ve flipped it around.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, pick someone. I’ll tell you.”

Lydia paused, she was curious about Isaac and his reaction to her, about the hallucination she had but of all the people she had seen walk by the windows or whose voices she could hear echoing through the house, she hadn’t seen or heard the one who had gone in alone. “Jackson.”

“Oh, that’s a good one. Jackson thinks he’s in a trailer park right now. He thinks his mom and dad never died. He was born into a poor, unprepared family and lived a poor, dull life getting picked on by people like you. He’s utterly,  _boringly_ , normal. And he’s happy.” The druid shrugged. “For the most part. He doesn’t know what he missed so he’s rebelling against it. Doesn’t even know he’s a werewolf. Let’s see if we can make him blow, huh? Make him be the one to kill his parents maybe? And if he can’t –  _well_  I bet when I take it all away and he sees what he had in his grasp and didn’t appreciate, he’s going to be pretty mad.”

“Why would you do that?” Lydia put all the concentration she had into not showing her heartbreak.

“It’s simple really. They’re monsters inside. Maybe deeper inside for others, but give them the right push at the right time and they’re all monsters, worthy of so much terror you can’t even imagine.”

“I have a pretty great imagination.”

“I’m sure, it’s typical with people of your… talent. You’ll need it when the fur starts flying. Because it will, Lydia. And no one is going to be able to help you. You keep bringing people in, like the Sheriff here, and they will fall into the trap. You go in yourself and risk your life for people that can’t even see you right now. Or that maybe even hate you because in their new lives, you never looked at them twice. You’re better off just watching and waiting with me. It will all be over soon.”

"Good luck. It will never work. We're pack, we're family. We’re here for each other, to anchor each other. And you're forgetting something."

"Oh yeah?"

"Werewolves are human lie detectors."

"No sweetie, you're forgetting something." Lydia raises the eyebrow she keeps artfully perfect for that purpose. "Werewolves aren't human."

Touché, she knew that better than some. "Maybe not all of them, but mine are."

The druid hums another laugh, just as fake and unfeeling as the first. "Maybe I'll let you live long enough to see how wrong you are. Hell, maybe I'll just let you live. Your magic and mine would work quite nicely together I think." He knew what she was. Lydia thought he had been hinting around it, but now it was clear. Maybe she could kill two birds and a druid with one stone.

"I'll consider it, if you let me see Danny. The human you kidnapped."

"See how fast you leave your pack. Some family."

Obviously druids aren't lie detectors, at least not this one. Lydia would never consider it. But she did need to get Danny out and find a way to help the pack. That didn’t mean she couldn’t help herself too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d just like to thank everyone again for the support and love you’re giving BA. We both really appreciate it and I hope you keep it coming, keep submitting prompts, and enjoy her tales. Thank You – WT
> 
> -
> 
> Chapter edited 21 January 2014  
> Please let us know if any mistakes were missed by visiting the comment section or thebadassisin.tumblr.com/ask  
> Thank you - WT


	4. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE ON POSTING SCHEDULE. IMPORTANT BUT NOT A CHAPTER.

Hello – hope you got the note in your email that this was an update – not a chapter.

This series has not been abandoned, I promise. The In a Dark Dark Wood portion is just very complicated and I want to make sure I’m doing it right and giving the prompt justice. ( I'm still writing it and just came up with the best little thing I've ever written so please PLEASE stay tuned even though it's taking a while)

That being said there is a lot of stuff going on in my life right now. I just needed another surgery because one of my wrists was set wrong and there were complications around that, I was fired because they can only hold my position for two weeks and I was in the hospital for over three after the accident so WT has been working over time trying to help and I’ve been interviewing even though I’m still healing and going through physical therapy and stuff because we don’t have insurance and everything is scary expensive and complications and surgeries and appointments keep happening and AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Sorry – short update turned in to a long rant.

 **The point of this update** was to say that hi, I’m alive. _This story_ is still alive and has two chapters left that I’m hashing out. IT WILL BE DONE BY THE END OF JANUARY.

There, maybe if I set the date in stone it will go faster. My plan was to have it done by new years and that could still happen, but it is more likely that it will be done within the next couple weeks, especially since the end is in sight for my spn story so I only have one to work on now. Yay.

WT news too! WT is now my official beta – yay twin being converted to the fandom side of things! Once IADDW is finished, he will be going through and editing my other stories for continuity, spelling and grammar and then working with me full time to edit before I post so quality should be going up :D

Thank you for all the love and support and sticking with me through these hard times even though my update schedule has been sketchy.

ALL the hugs and kisses and hearts!

BA


	5. There was a Dark, Dark Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we just say this was a day late because it's Wednesday, not Tuesday? :D  
> ...No?  
> Okay. Well here we go any way :) Thanks for sticking with me through all these crazy times and I hope you like the new chapter!  
> BA

“Kate, we can’t just storm in. We don’t even know what’s happening.”

“He lost control with you, that’s enough to cut him in two if you ask me.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“ _His eyes were red, Allison._ Why are you defending him?”

“Because…” Allison wasn’t even sure what she was about to say. That she felt a part of the Hale pack? Not likely.  “I’m not defending him. I just want the truth of what’s going on. There was something on his back, but I couldn’t see it if I looked right at it. Isn’t that worth looking into? And the scent on me - What if something else is at fault here? Are we just going to kill the victims and let the guilty go free?”

Her aunt paused on the trail. They couldn’t keep arguing like this and not expect to be caught by the Hales, it was suicide. “Who put you in charge of this?” Kate hissed.

“Derek chose  _me_.” She barked, it was her right, she trained for this. She knew Kate wanted justice and they would get it, but not like this.

“That asshole? You think a  _werewolf_ picking your pretty face over mine means anything? Oh honey, I think he’s playing you as much as you’re playing him. You’re  _their_ easy target just like he’s ours. You’re not ready for this. Don’t forget who showed you your first werewolf and who trained you to be a real hunter.” Kate stomped on as Allison couldn’t stop herself from remembering the tunnel she had been dragged into and the beta tied up and being tortured for information there. She couldn’t remember his face, didn’t want to. That wasn’t how she wanted to work, torture and violence. She wanted to make her parents proud, be a good person, a hero. Allison picked up the pace again.

“Kate. Look.” She pulled back on her aunt’s jacket.

“Who are they?” Kate asked, pointing ahead through a window that showed a curly haired boy in the Hale’s living room and to the left at a pair of boys walking out the front door and towards the side of the house. She had seen the dark haired boy before, at school maybe? He stopped and looked her way as his friend rambled on and disappeared behind the house. No one had ever looked at her like that before.

“I don’t know.”

* * *

Derek raced through the house, listening to the trespassers with the odd pack scent, his heart rate ratcheting higher and higher until he finally got to the side door and practically ripped it off its old hinges trying to get through.

“Hey Scotty, where’d you- Holy God! Who are you?!” The stranger flailed. Not a man like he thought before, a teenager, probably around Allison’s age.

“This is private property-” He started, words failing when he reached down to pull the trespasser off the ground and the squeeze of the strangers hand is like a rope straight to his heart. Some weird déjà vu surrounding  _those words_  and  _this face_. That hand…

“You’re telling me. Again, who are you?” Derek shoved him up against the side of the house, obviously a little intimidation was needed with this particular kind of idiot and with the mood he was in today, Derek really didn’t mind obliging. “What the hell?”

Derek gasped as images flood his mind. His hands pushed this same stranger into other walls, dozens of times, of more than pushing, of being pushed back or pulled in. Of kissing and groping and more. He shook his head to clear the visions away and leans into the kid, getting a scent in his nose the wolf goes mad over, chomping at the bit to get to him, to make those flashes real. It’s almost like looking into their future, like maybe this random trespasser was his mate, but that’s not possible. He’s not an alpha. He was never going to be alpha, he wasn’t in line for it anytime soon and he didn’t want it. This wasn’t possible. Still, just the thought  _mate_ had the wolf clawing harder than ever. He couldn’t pull away, could only lean closer. “Did you feel that? What was that?”

“Hey, your eyes.”

Derek found the strength to step back, shit he took it too far. What was he going to do? His Alpha was going to kill him. “Sorry, it’s-”

“You’re a werewolf.” He says, and Derek is about to panic. How did this idiot know about werewolves? Was he a hunter? No, he just smelled of that strange pack scent that wasn’t his but was and something sweeter. “That explains the mood swing I guess. Hey, do you have a pack? Because Scott, my friend, boyfriend really, I guess, brofriend? Whatever, we’re together…” The color drained from the guy’s face as the word resonated through Derek. “I mean, that’s not the right word. Anyway, he was turned and we don’t know anything except what’s on the internet and that’s mostly porn and fairy tales and did you see yourself slamming me into a lot of other walls because I think I’m losing it a little here and would really appreciate you taking a step…back.” Derek couldn’t take his eyes off the man’s lips as he rambled, only catching about a third of the words said after ‘together’ while his wolf dug at him, trying to push in closer. “Or a step forward, that could be okay, sure.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m pretty sure I asked you first. Along with a bunch of other stuff you haven’t answered yet. Besides this is my h-” Derek squeezed the shoulders under his hands harder, wanting to be closer and at the same time needing air that wasn’t this hypnotizing scent. He didn’t have the control he needed to do much else but hold on and dip his head away to focus on the odd comfort of the smoke smell still following him.  _What was wrong with him today_ , what was happening? The teenager cringed in pain and Derek started pulling the ache out of the fresh bruises on his shoulders without even thinking. “Holy shit dude. Stiles. Stiliniski. Okay? God.”

“Stiles Stilinski?” Derek asked, something in him sewing back together at the name. He knew that name, felt it in his core.

“Yeah, I know. It’s not - can you just maybe let go?”

“Sorry.” The guy - Stiles - scoffed in his face. “I just, I feel like…”

“Yeah.” Stiles whispered, gripping Derek’s hand where it was still pinning Stiles to the wall and giving a squeeze before tracing his fingers slowly up Derek’s arm to rest on the back of his neck. Derek closed his eyes and leaned into it, taking another deep breath of that scent, letting it erase the smoke still clinging to the air around them. “I don’t know why I just did that.”

“Yeah.” Is all Derek can really say back. He relaxes his hands and lets them slide down to Stiles’ elbows, pulling him away from the wall and closer to his body.

“This is wrong.” Stiles’ said, gripping Derek’s hip and moving his thumb up under Derek’s shirt.

“I know.”

“Why does it feel like the only thing to go right today?”

“I don’t know.”

Stiles leaned in, eyes open and locked on his, face hovering so close, mouth slightly open and breathing against his. “We shouldn’t.” Something in Derek snapped and he pulled Stiles forward again, closing that last inch and drowning in the feel of him.

Kissing this man felt so right, not like with Allison that morning, he can’t even remember ever kissing her before that or what it felt like. This wasn’t good. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe that the treaty between the hunters and his pack didn’t rest heavily on his relationship with their youngest, but he just couldn’t pull away. Christ, it wasn’t even the moon who was this kid?

“Oh god we really shouldn’t be doing this.” Stiles said with Derek’s bottom lip still between his teeth.

Derek pulled back to gasp out, “I know, I just, what is it with you?”

“I have a boyfriend.” He moaned as Derek snuck a leg between his.

“I have a girlfriend. She could kill me without even trying.”

“Bullshit. Big guy like you with your muscles and teeth and scary red eyes.” That almost had Derek freezing where he was mouthing down Stiles’ neck.

“My eyes aren’t red.”

“Not the point.”

Derek hears voices and looks up to see Allison come around the corner laughing blissfully, perfect dimpled smile stuttering off when she sees them. The beta by her side’s eyes flash gold, he smells like the one on her jacket this morning. “Allison.” Derek says, finally pulling himself away from Stiles again, the smoke smell flooding back into the air between them. She runs off and he doesn’t have it in him to run after her. He needed to, he should want to fight but…

“You have to go after her.”

“I-”

“Because I have to go after him.”

Derek watched Stiles back away and felt like he was letting his future slip through his fingers. “What did you mean my eyes were red?”

“So not the problem right now but I’m telling you man, they flashed red.” Stiles takes off after his  _boyfriend_ and Derek lets panic settle in where he’s pretty sure the feeling of heartbreak was about to take over. Red, they could only be red if…

“No.” This time the hinges did snap as he ripped the door open and raced back to where he’d left his mother.

* * *

Stiles finally caught up to Scott and got him to turn around only to be slammed into a tree. He probably deserved that but fuck his back was taking a beating today. He winced when he felt a knob in the bark make a new bruise on his shoulder blade.

“Stiles, what the hell man? Why? Do you even know the guy?”

“No, I mean. I’m pretty sure that was Derek Hale.” Saying the name had him swallowing down a sudden lump in his throat. His emotions were doing insane things today, he was officially losing his mind. “Scott, I’m-”

“No!”

“It’s not like you weren’t drooling all over his girlfriend. Don’t think I didn’t notice.” Scott looked down and shook his head but didn’t deny a thing and Stiles almost forgot he was the guilty one here for a second. Scott looked back towards the house and something in his eyes said he wasn’t thinking about killing Stiles over catching him playing tonsil hockey with a hottie. “You’re thinking about her right now aren’t you?”

“I didn’t mean too, but…”

“I know. What the hell are we even doing Scotty?”

“Fighting.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss Scott gently, like all the other times one of them pissed the other off, kiss it better, but it’s all wrong. Their lips don’t fit together right and Scott’s stupid adorable crocked jaw doesn’t feels wrong under his hand. Scott deepened the kiss for a minute, starting to get rough before Stiles pulled back. His best friend looks at him with that confused scowl that probably means he’s thinking the same thing, that this is weird and they should both know why but neither one does. He sighs. “I think we need to take a break, go back to being just friends for a while and figure out what we want.” Scott gives him big hurt puppy eyes before stomping off. This whole day was so fucked up. Hangovers, mysterious strangers, breakups – and he didn’t even feel anything. This was Stiles’ first big relationship, he just told his practically-life-long best friend that he didn’t want to date him anymore. Wasn’t that supposed to be earth shattering or something?

Yet all he could feel was the stubble burn on his chin. And all he could think about was the handsome face that looked so familiar. Maybe it really was Derek Hale, but what the hell was he doing back here? All he wanted was to chase after the new werewolf and find out everything he knew to help Scott – who probably wouldn’t talk to him about it anyway now. But still, they needed to know this stuff right? And what was the guy even doing at his house? Could he smell another wolf, was he going to go after Scott? Maybe they were bitten by the same guy.  _Maybe this is the guy that bit Scott!_  God, what was he thinking?!

“ _Stiles!_ ” A voice called. Stiles looked up and realized his mother was calling from the doorway where she was standing with a police officer, the Sheriff judging by the star on his uniform. She sounded different, upset. He jogged over, ready for another blow to his day. If tall, dark, and muscular had done anything to his mom before their impromptu make out session he was going to hunt him down. “Stiles honey, are you okay? You look upset.”

“Yeah, fine. Scott, um, we. Never mind.” Stiles nodded at the police officer standing next to his mom who had about as much knowledge of personal space as Derek had earlier. “Sir.”

“Honey, you remember the Sheriff don’t you? He was your dad’s partner.”

“Um…” Stiles rubbed the back of his neck in the same way as the man in front of him before he even realized it was happening. He was going to say no, say he didn’t remember his dad’s partner, but his face and the way he moved was so familiar. “Yeah I think. Sorry, I don’t remember you name.”

The Sheriff wasn’t even looking at him anymore, eying up his mom in a way he really didn’t need to see. Rude.

They go inside for lunch and continue the awkward half stilted conversation. It’s like the guy doesn’t hear half the things Stiles says and every once in a while he looks up surprised to see Stiles is even there. It was weird.

And then he started talking about his kid. Pieces missing from that part of the conversation too, but Stiles can’t really say his mind was completely focused on this stranger’s sob story. At least not until he brought up certain things. Like the stupid alien name drawings his kid had been obsessed with. Stiles remembered those. He brought home about a hundred from art class because his name was long and weird and made the best creepy shapes. And about strange obsessions and adhd and… it was like he was talking about Stiles. It was eerie. He didn’t remember this kid. Would have for sure because he could have given Scott a run for his money in the best friend department with all the things they had in common.

“What was your son’s name again, sir?”

“Stiles…” His mom paused awkwardly. “That was rude.” He didn’t really see how it was rude, at least not anymore than the Sheriff ignoring him through half their conversation or randomly coming over for lunch unannounced during what was already a horrific day.

“It’s fine Claudia. Stiles is a strange name to have to remember.”Stiles made a gesture at the cop as if to say  _see! Totally justified in giving attitude here._ The Sheriff just smirked. “You look a bit like how I’d picture he’d turn out. Probably not as scrawny though. Kid liked his curly fries too much.”

The man continued with a pained look at his mom, going on and on about his lost son. His Tball number – 13. They got a kick out of it being the reason he would always knock the ball off the T before he got a chance to swing. Meeting his best friend in the sand box when he was four. Wrecking havoc at the station’s Fourth of July barbeques. That one year he threw fire crackers into the grill…

Stiles can see the things he’s talking about in his mind, like they happened to him. He remembers them like it was yesterday. The more he thinks about it, the more his head hurts and the more he can see this man. Like he was always there. He even smells familiar. But… “What was his name?”He asks again.

God, he’s been spending way too much time with the pack. Werewolves, he mentally corrects, but that’s not right wither. Scott. Just Scott. Scott who wasn’t talking to him at the moment because they were on a break… because he was seen together with Derek.

 _Together_.

Stiles stands up quickly, knocking over the chair behind him. The room starts to shift before his eyes. It’s the same kitchen, but…different. Older, paint duller. The cabinets changed. He looks back to the Sheriff, it wasn’t possible.

“Stiles?” His mom asked. The Sheriff was still eating his lunch like nothing was wrong, like the chair hitting the tile and making a nose so loud even Stiles flinched in his shock didn’t even happen.

“My dad is dead!” He yelled, he didn’t have it in him to care or regret it if he made her flinch back. And when she didn’t flinch back when Stiles yelled, when Stiles mentioned his dad… something was wrong. Why was this man even here? What was happening and why wasn’t anyone reacting.

“Stiles?”

“I don’t…” Smell, he could focus on smell. His eyes were lying to him right now but he could be like Scott right, he could work it out. What was he saying, he was insane.

“You’re right Stiles.”

“What?”

“Your dad is dead. I thought we were dealing with this, honey. I shouldn’t have let the Sheriff come over. I just…”

He hadn’t seen his mom get that look like she was going to cry but being brave about it in a long time. Another wave of the headache stabbed behind his eyes but he put it aside. “Just  _what_ mom?”

“I just want revenge  _so bad._ I want  _justice_.”

“For what?” She wasn’t making any sense. It didn’t even sound like her anymore, like someone else was speaking with her face. Stiles’ head started to scream, but he wouldn’t let his eyes close against the pain. This was important, something was happening here, something he needed to figure out because… holy god! Was  _he_  dead?

“The Sheriff was driving the cruiser that crashed and took your dad away from us baby.” Even that didn’t make sense. His mom never used police related words like cruiser, she hated to think of his dad as a cop, it scared her. And his dad never let other people drive. He remembered that, even his mom. He used to tell her she was too sick…right? But no, his dad was sick. He remembered his special diet.

“Dad had a heart attack…” His mom froze, looking at him with tears in her eyes that were breaking his heart but he had to focus. He stepped forward to hug his mom, make her feel better but to use his other senses too. She felt so small in his arms, how long had it been since he’d last hugged her? And she smelled like that perfume. The one dad used to buy. Like the hallway outside their bedroom because the bottle broke. No. Dad smashed it. Because…why? Why did his dad smash her perfume bottle?

Stiles was pulled in for a minute, his heart aching and anger building in him that he didn’t really understand. She smelled like she should, but at the same time she smelled like nothing. She was sweating in the summer heat, just like him and the Sheriff, but she smelled perfect, and her hair was perfect, and her dress –

“My dad had a heart attack but he was okay. You. Mom. Oh my god. You don’t smell like anything.”

“Stiles, what are you talking about?”

Stiles tried to remember what was missing, what should be there that was driving him mad. The smell of the library and the pie came to mind and he swore he could smell them just as fast. He thought of cookies and smelled those too. “You don’t smell like anything because… because I can’t remember what you smell like.” Tears hit his eyes and panic starts to race through his veins. He can almost remember the first time he felt like this, and it was his dad holding him, Sheriff’s star digging in to his cheek while he told him he needed to forget some things to heal, how could he forget that?

Stiles fell to his knees as the scent in the room shifted round and round, apple pie, cookies, library books, perfume until it all changed to hospital sterile and made him gag.

“This is a trick.”

* * *

Lydia watched Stiles walk up to the Sheriff and have a conversation with the air she was going to assume was taking the form of Stiles’ mother. The druid was smart, he was tricky, but she had to believe that if she pushed enough people together they would see through whatever veil he had pulled over their eyes. She tried hollering at Stiles and Scott before their little moment enough to know that they couldn’t see or hear her either. She didn’t think it would ever hurt so much to have Stiles not notice she was there. If Scott hadn’t looked so close to wolfing out and there hadn’t been that unexpected kiss, she would have tried touching them like she had the Sheriff sooner. It didn’t seem to have much effect on Isaac earlier, but even if it only worked for a second, she had to try. When she grabbed Stiles hand she was disappointed to see he didn’t notice, but at least he looked up and saw his father when she called his name.

Lydia walked into the house behind them, trying to get close enough to touch, but being pulled back by that force again. Soon enough she was lost in the winding hallways, but not for nothing. Boyd was sitting in a dark corner staring down at his hands, claw free for the moment, tears running down his cheeks.

She sat down in front of him carefully, fully aware he was the strongest beta and setting him off would not be good. In fact, it might be the reason why the house let her get this close to him. “Boyd?” She said quietly. He looked up, eyes focusing on her face and giving her hope. “Oh thank god. You can see me right?”

“What the hell is going on?” He asked, voice shaking. Lydia didn’t know if it was seeing Boyd look and sound so small or the relief in finding a pack member okay that had her do it, but she launched herself at him, hugging him tight and even let him put his wet face in her hair.

“Everyone is under a curse. There’s a druid here and he took away a good or a bad memory from everyone to change it. I think. He’s trying to get the pack to kill each other. Are you okay because I need your help.  _Now_.”

“It was my sister.”

“What?”

“My sister. He made her alive again.”

“Is she… do you still see her?” That could be a problem.

“No. He took her back. I… I knew. He wanted me to kill Mr. Stilinski, but I remembered.”

“How?” Boyd glared at her through his tears. “Look, I’m sorry, really. But we need to help the others snap out of it too.”

“Guilt. You can’t forget something like letting your sister get killed. Everything about her just reminded me. She smelled like the hot chocolate she bought me that night, and the rink keys were in my pocket. I got that job, cleaning the ice, so I wouldn’t forget her. I found them and I shifted and I remembered everything. And then I kept thinking The Sheriff was the one that took her, but at the same time I kept remembering that night and he was there but he didn’t do it. He made the other cop stop yelling at me, he told me it wasn’t my fault and hugged me. I don’t know what’s happening to me…I think I shifted at the police station. I can’t believe I did that in public…”

Lydia never knew any of this about Boyd. She wanted to know more about what happened, why he would carry this guilt around and torture himself with it. Wanted to comfort him and be an actual friend instead of just sharing a pack with him, but they had work to do. “Boyd. This all  _really sucks_ , and I promise we can take time to process it later but I need you to be ice now or a lot of other people are going to die. Pack might not be the family Derek wants it to be yet, but we have to protect it so one day it can be. Okay? Come on, I need you.”

Boyd got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. She was back in the game. They could do this. “I hear Isaac. This way.” They barely reached the stairs when Derek’s roars started shaking the walls. No. They couldn’t be too late, not now.

* * *

Derek paced the room in front of his mother, barely controlling the urge to shift, to run, at what might as well be news at least half his family is dead. How else would he come into being an alpha so fast? And he was an alpha. The red eyes glaring back at him every time he faced a window were proof enough.

His mother wasn’t saying anything, was in denial that it was even happening. Repeating the same speech he treasured from when he was 16 and he ki… and his eyes turned blue.

That  _heartfelt_ speech was losing more and more meaning with each moment until he finally couldn’t take the stoic façade anymore and locked himself away in his room.

Alone in the dark with nothing but his own scent was always a safe space for him, but now all it did was dig at his brain. His room smelled the same, everything smelled the same. Like him and smoke and nothing else. As if on cue he caught a whiff of Stiles on the shirt he was tearing off. It scared him how much that relaxed him and taunted him further at the same time. Why couldn’t he smell Allison? She was here this morning. Derek, the bed, the whole room should smell of her. His mind conjured the scent of Kate’s perfume, wolfs bane, mountain ash and smoke. 

Panic rushed through his veins, calling his wolf to action. Anger and hurt had him falling to his knees as the shift started, but this wasn’t normal, it wasn’t stopping. He howled through his bones popping, muscles stretching and skin morphing. He knew this should feel good, something in the back of his mind told him it was nice, it was right, but all he could feel was confusion and anger and grief, all layering on top of his own like they didn’t even belong there, like they weren’t even his. What was happening? This wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real.

His mom came in and stared down at where he was still writhing on the floor, trying to get himself and his wolf under control, trying to work out what was happening and hold off the alpha form he didn’t want. He had never seen that look on her face, of such horror and disgust, and he never wanted to.

Smoke filled the room and her skin seemed to glow and burn with it, peeling away and floating as ash in the air. “You did this.” and it’s close enough to the truth where he believes.

The room continued to fill, people, his family, they all circled around him. His father, brother, sisters, cousins, friends.

His mother spoke again. Even though flames were licking her skin and her face was contorted in pain and a scream he would never forget, her voice was strong, “Look at yourself!” Derek makes his head turn at the direct order, makes himself look in the mirror he’d been avoiding since coming into the room. He sees his family burning behind him in the reflection, arms reaching through the basement windows, too small to fit through but blocked with mountain ash anyway, all screaming for help.

He squeezes his eyes shut and fights against the panic rushing through him. He did this, he killed his family for power. But why, he never wanted it. Did he? What had really happened? How could he do this? Why would he do this? Even the kids, humans, he couldn’t have!

Still, the smell of smoke and burnt flesh kept circling back to him, making the hair on his arms stand up with its familiarity and he knew it was real. It happened. He curled in on himself and willed his heart to stop, only to feel those phantom emotions spike through him again. A different kind of sadness mixed with disbelief and a fight he couldn’t muster in himself right now.

“Derek.” A soft voice said paired with a cool hand on his shoulder. “Hey little brother. Come on, wake up.”

 


End file.
